M5Stamp Pico ESP32-PICO-D4 module ships with a heat-resistant plastic shell

M5Stamp Pico

Most WiFi IoT modules are designed to be integrated into products with an enclosure, but the M5Stamp Pico module based on ESP32-PICO-D4 SiP comes with a removable heat-resistant plastic shell that protects the 3D antenna and components, while leaving space to solder headers and/or a Grove connector. The tiny module also comes with a button and RGB LED, and like other ESP32-based M5Stack hardware, M5Stamp Pico is programmable with UIFlow graphical programming platform and compatible with Arduino, MicroPython, and the ESP-IDF. M5Stamp Pico specifications: System-in-Package – Espressif Systems ESP32-PICO-D4 SiP with dual-core processor @ 240MHz, 520KB SRAM, 4MB flash, and 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi 4 up to 150 Mbps and Bluetooth 4.2 BR/LE connectivity Antenna – 2.4 GHz 3D antenna I/Os – 2.54mm pitch header with ADC, DAC, touch sensor, SD/SDIO/MMC host controller, SPI, SDIO/SPI slave controller, EMAC, PWM, UART, I2C, I2S, IR remote controller, up to 12x GPIO, pulse counter […]

An ESP32-based BBC Micro:bit clone – Meet Mbits

BBC Micro:bit clone ESP32 Mbits

A few years ago, we noted a BBC Micro:bit clone based on ESP32 WiSoC with Banana Pi ‘s BPI:bit board with an array of 25 RGB LEDs and WiFi & Bluetooth LE connectivity. There’s now another such clone with Elecrow Mbits designed in a way that resembles the BBC Micro:bit v2 board, but replacing the Nordic Semi nRF52833 2.4GHz/BLE SoC with the ESP32 dual-core wireless chip with support for both WiFi and BLE. The specifications between Elecrow Mbits and BBC Micro:bit v2 are close enough, although ESP32 is a more powerful processor, and the MBits board comes with more memory and storage. Power consumption of the BBC Micro:bit v2 should be much better, so if anything needs to run on battery for an extended period of time, it may be a better choice, or you’re gonna need a bigger battery.  The GPIO pinout looks different too, so not all Micro:bit […]

Qualcomm IPQ4019 802.11ac Wave 2 WiFi system-on-module comes with Dual Gigabit Ethernet baseboard

IPQ4019 system-on-module

Wallys Communication has introduced their lowest cost networking platform with the DR4019S board equipped with two Gigabit Ethernet ports, as well as a Qualcomm IPQ4019 802.11ac Wave 2 WiFi system-on-module. The module comes with 32MB NOR flash, and 256MB DDR memory and targets applications ranging from security surveillance to commercial radio coverage to hotel wireless applications, or even forest fire protection engineering. DR4019S board specifications: SoC – Qualcomm IPQ4019 quad-core Arm Cortex A7 at 716.8 MHz System Memory – 256MB DDR Storage – 32MB NOR flash Connectivity 2x Gigabit Ethernet ports 802.11b/g/n/ac Wave 2 WiFi 5 with 2x 5G MMCX connectors, 2x 2.4G MMCX connectors (but we can only see one or two of those on the provided photo) USB – 1x USB 3./2.0 port Misc – Debug UART header Power Supply – 12V via DC jack Power Consumption – 9.6W (max) Dimensions – 65 x 35 x 16mm Temperature […]

Review of “4G LTE WiFi Modem” hotspot

4G LTE WiFi Modem review

I’ve purchased a USB dongle acting as a WiFI & 4G cellular router with a generic name “4G LTE WiFi Modem” and listed as “4G LTE WiFi Hotspot Wireless Router USB Dongle 150Mbps Modem Stick Sim Card” on the online store (Lazada) I bought it from. 4G LTE WiFi Modem unboxing It’s a 3-in-1 device that works as a 4G USB dongle connected to a PC or laptop, a 4G USB WiFi cellular router/hotspot, and a USB flash drive when adding a MicroSD card. 4G performance is limited to 150Mbps DL, 50Mbps UL, while WiFi only supports up to 72 Mbps using 802.11n 2.4GHz WiFi. That’s perfectly fine for my use case, as the plan is to use it as a standalone WiFi hotspot with an unlimited 10 Mbps SIM card, and in locations with low population densities so 5GHz WiFi is not a must. The USB dongle ships with […]

Realtek AP-Router SDK vulnerabilities could impact millions of routers and IoT devices

Realtek SDK vulnerabilities

The IoT Inspector Research Lab has discovered four high and critical vulnerabilities in the Realtek AP-Router “Jungle” SDK used for RTL819x SoCs that could impact millions of WiFi routers and dongles. An attacker can use a network attack, e.g. without physical access to the device, to generate a buffer or stack overflow helping him access the system and execute his own code. Realtek has released an advisory (PDF) with patchsets for all four vulnerabilities so you should upgrade the firmware if you can. Summary of the four vulnerabilities: CVE-2021-35392 – Realtek Jungle SDK version v2.x up to v3.4.14B provides a ‘WiFi Simple Config’ server called wscd or mini_upnpd that implements both UPnP and SSDP protocols. The server is vulnerable to a heap buffer overflow that is present due to unsafe crafting of SSDP NOTIFY messages from received M-SEARCH messages ST header. CVE-2021-35393 – Also impacts ‘WiFi Simple Config’ server (wscd […]

$4 Lolin S2 Mini ESP32-S2 WiFi IoT board works with Wemos D1 Mini shields

Lolin S2 Mini board

If you liked Wemos D1 mini ESP8266 board with stackable add-on boards, you’ll probably love Wemos/Lolin S2 Mini board with the same factor, but fitted with an ESP32-S2 single-core WIFi processor, and offering twice the number of I/Os. The board comes with 4MB flash, 2MB PSRAM, a USB-C port for power and programming, as well as two 16 pin headers for GPIOs, ADC, DAC, and more. Lolin S2 Mini V1.0.0 specifications: SoC – Espressif Systems ESP32-S2FN4R2 Xtensa  single-core 32-bit LX7 microprocessor up to 240 MHz with 320 KB SRAM, 4MB Flash, 2MB PSRAM Expansion headers – 2x 16-pin headers with 27x IO, ADC, DAC, I2C, SPI, UART, USB OTG USB – 1x Type-C USB for 5V power and programming Misc – Reset button and button 0 also used to enter Device Firmware Upgrade (DFU) Dimensions – 34.3 x 25.4 mm Weight – 2.4 grams The board is compatible with Lolin/Wemos […]

ZiGate-Ethernet – An ESP32 Ethernet, WiFi, and BLE Gateway with optional Zigbee connectivity

ZiGate Ethernet Raspberry Pi 4 enclosure

Frédéric Dubois, aka fairecasoimeme, has recently released ZiGate-Ethernet, an home automation gateway based on Espressif Systems ESP32 wireless SoC with Ethernet, WiFi, and Bluetooth LE connectivity. The gateway can also take an optional PiZiGate+ Zigbee module for support for a wider range of home automation gizmos, and everything is designed to fit in the official Raspberry Pi 4 enclosure. ZiGate-Ethernet specifications: Wireless module – ESP32-WROOM-32E with ESP32 dual-core processor, 16MB flash, PCB antenna Connectivity 10/100M Ethernet RJ45 port implemented through LAN8720 as on several other ESP32 Ethernet boards 2.4GHz WiFI 4 Bluetooth LE 4.2/5.x Zigbee through PiZiGate+ module with PCB antenna or optional external antenna USB – Micro USB port for power and programming Expansion – 16-pin GPIO header with up to 10x GPIO, 7x ADC, UART, 5V, 3.3V, and GND Misc- Reset and Flash button, ESP32/FTDI UART selection switch, Power Supply – 5V/500mA via micro USB  port Dimensions – […]

Challenger RP2040 WiFi board marries ESP8285 with Raspberry Pi RP2040

Challenger RP2040 WiFi board

We’ve already seen Raspberry Pi RP2040 getting WiFi connectivity with boards like Pico Wireless Pack, Wio RP2040 mini, and Arduino Nano RP2040 Connect in ways that do not always make technical and commercial sense as in many cases, the WiFi microcontroller (e.g. ESP32) is more powerful than the Raspberry Pi microcontroller. But Invector Labs’ Challenger RP2040 WiFi board does make more sense, as the company combines Raspberry Pi RP2040 dual-core Cortex-M0+ MCU with an entry-level ESP8285 WiFi microcontroller, and also offers LiPo battery support, all that in the Adafruit Feather form factor. Challenger RP2040 WiFi board specifications: Main microcontroller – Raspberry Pi RP2040 dual-core Cortex-M0+ MCU @ 133MHz with 264KB SRAM Storage – 8MB flash Network microcontroller – Espressif ESP8285 2.4GHz WiFi 4 SoC with 1MB on-chip flash pre-flashed with Espressif’s AT command interpreter, connected to the main MCU over UART at up to 921600 bps; I/Os via Adafruit Feather […]

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